SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: Tee Higgins faces an “uphill battle” to play today vs. the Eagles due to his quad injury, per Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports NFL.
Disheartening and worth-monitoring news effervesced out of Bengals practice today, as their star WR2 Tee Higgins endured a quad injury that downgraded him to a Questionable tag against the Eagles.
Friday practice injuries are never good, and Higgins has already had his share of health woes this season. It’s not out of the possibility that he sits.
Should he do so, Andrei Iosivas would see a jump on the depth chart. Let’s evaluate him for DFS and season-long fantasy in Week 8 against the Eagles.
Analysis
The Bengals offense looked a lot different when Tee Higgins was out to begin the 2024 campaign. It’s still worth noting, however, that Iosivas was second on the team in red zone targets during that time. Joe Burrow spent a lot of time on the PR circuit this summer hyping up Iosivas. Just like Burrow to put his money where his mouth is and feed Iosivas in high-leverage situations.
Iosivas’s best games spelling Higgins this season came in Weeks 2 and 3:
Week 2: Two receptions for just seven yards, but scored two touchdowns on end zone targets vs. Chiefs.
Week 3: His most prolific game, yardage-wise. He posted five receptions on seven targets for 52 yards and one touchdown in a loss to Washington.
A cool advanced metric for Iosivas since Higgins’s return: Iosivas’s yards per route run (YPRR) of 1.07 and a 5.3% first-read share reflects his emerging role as a Tyler-Boyd-like safety blanket for Joe Burrow. Expect that to continue on Sunday if Higgins’s quad sidelines him.
And back to the red zone efficiency stats for Iosivas! He’s currently 13th in the league with five end zone targets.
Bottom Line
Iosivas is an absolute must-start on an ascending, above-league-average offense if Tee Higgins sits. Iosivas has already filled this role plenty in this season‘s playbook.
It’s unfortunate for Higgins, but the Bengals are as prepared—historically and with regards to personnel—as ever to have Iosivas spell him another week.
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